Rupert Stuart-Smith

Biography

Rupert Stuart-Smith is a Research Associate in Climate Science and the Law at the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme. His present research interests cover the use and interpretation of climate science evidence in litigation and methodological developments in climate change attribution science. His current work also spans climate and glacier modelling, the impacts of climate change on health and strategy development for climate litigation.

Rupert's recent publications include research on the impact of climate change on glacial retreat in Peru in the context of an ongoing lawsuit (Lliuya v RWE) and the evidence needed to bring successful legal claims on the impacts of climate change. His research has been published in leading scientific journals including Nature Geoscience and Nature Climate Change.

Rupert has authored expert reports for climate lawsuits and worked as a consultant for the Foundation for International Law for the Environment (FILE), supporting the development of FILE's legal granting strategy, and for WWF-UK, Climate Analytics and Vivid Economics. Prior to joining the Sustainable Law Programme, Rupert worked towards a DPhil and holds a BA(Hons) in Geography from the University of Oxford. Rupert has also received the Alfred Steers Prize from the Royal Geographical Society, awarded to the author of best Undergraduate dissertation in a UK geography department.

Rupert's work has been featured in the global media, including by The Guardian, BBC, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Reuters, and Carbon Brief.

Publications

Journal Articles

Boyd, E., Chaffin, B. C., Dorkenoo, K., Jackson, G., Harrington, L., N’Guetta, A., Johansson, E. L., Nordlander, L., Paolo De Rosa, S., Raju, E., Scown, M., Soo, J., & Stuart-Smith, R. (2021). Loss and damage from climate change: A new climate justice agenda. One Earth, 4(10), 1365–1370.

Stuart-Smith, R.F., Otto, F.E.L., Saad, A., Lisi, G., Minnerop, P., Lauta, K.C., van Zwieten, K., & Wetzer, T. (2021). Filling the evidentiary gap in climate litigation. Nature Climate Change, 11(8), 651-655.

Stuart-Smith, R. F., Roe, G. H., Li, S., and Allen, M. R. (2021). Increased outburst flood hazard from Lake Palcacocha due to human-induced glacier retreat. Nature Geoscience, 14(2), 85–90. Unofficial Spanish Translation.

Ebi, K.L., Åström, C., Boyer, C.J., Harrington, L.J., Hess, J.J., Honda, Y., Kazura, E., Stuart-Smith, R.F. and Otto, F.E.L. (2020) Using Detection And Attribution To Quantify How Climate Change Is Affecting Health. Health Affairs, 39(12), 2168-2174.

Reports

Stuart-Smith, R.F., Clarke, B.J., Harrington, L.H., Otto, F.E.L. (2021). Global Climate Change Impacts Attributable to Deforestation driven by the Bolsonaro Administration: Expert report for submission to the International Criminal Court. Oxford Sustainable Law Programme. 1-97.

Stuart-Smith, R.F., Saad, A., Otto, F.E.L., Lisi, G., Lauta, K.C., Minnerop, P. and Wetzer, T. (2021) Attribution science and litigation: facilitating effective legal arguments and strategies to manage climate change damages. Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford.

Wilson, R., Ganti, G., Geiges, A., Gidden, M., Stuart-Smith, R.F., Menke, I. (2020). Italy’s Climate Targets and Policies in Relation to the Paris Agreement and Global Equity Considerations. Climate Analytics, Berlin.

Stuart-Smith, R.F., Climate change in the Arctic: impacts and attribution. Scoping study for WWF-UK (2020).

Dietz, S., Jahn, V., Noels, J., Stuart-Smith, R. F. & Hepburn, C. J. A survey of the net zero positions of the world’s largest energy companies. (2019).

Conference Papers

Stuart-Smith, R.F., Roe, G.H., Li, S., & Allen, M.R. Human influence on the retreat of Palcaraju glacier (Cordillera Blanca, Peru). American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (2019).